Soviet Swansong AAR

I recently hosted the Soviet Swansong scenario from the Air War Korea scenario book for the Southwestern Ohio Check Your 6! group at the "local" game shop - as local as an hour's drive might be. 

Lining them up - crap, too high!

The setup heavily favored the equally balanced forces...while both sides had an ace, two skilled, and one green aircrew, one section of MiGs (which included the ace) starts within 4-8 hexes in the rear arc of one section  of Sabres. However, the Soviet player misread the starting altitudes a bit, and instead of having a beautiful tail shot against the Americans, started four TALs too high. Move forward a couple of turns, the Soviet player overshot the American section, presenting one Sabre with an opportunity to use its advanced gunshot on a deflection shot, resulting in an airframe hit.

That damaged MiG decided to try an special maneuver the next turn, prompting an aircrew check, which was failed. The result was one MiG tumbling out of the sky.

Giving the Americans a gift.

The other section of Sabres were slowly making their way into the fight, turning towards the center of the board while climbing for altitude. The cover section of MiGs dropped into the center of the board on turn three, and now a hairball ensued. The Soviet ace placed rounds more than once on the Americans, but my buddy Matt, known now as Mr. Robusto (with the tune of どうもありがと Mr. Roboto now dancing through our heads) kept making his robustness rolls. Another MiG took an airframe hit, and on the next turn, not learning from the previous example, that MiG also tried a special maneuver. Result? Another MiG tumbling from the sky! 

This section was coming into the action

A third MiG was shot down, and now the score was 12-0 in favor of the Americans. The Soviet ace tried to dance about to shoot down any American, but it was not to be. Realizing that they had an overwhelming victory, by turn eleven the Americans all dove out of the fight with their victory point total intact.

The Soviets had their chances, but just couldn't get past Mr. Rubusto

I liked the scenario as it was somewhat balanced, and will definitely run this one again as a small convention game.

Deep Cut Studio custom MiG Alley mat, provided for the game by Scott.

Works in Progress

As I become older I find that painting is actually becoming a bit of a calming release for me. Oh sure, my wife will tell you that on occasion she hears me spout out an expletive from the den as I fiddle with getting a decal in place or paint canopy frames, but overall I am starting to enjoy painting my own planes. Now, that being said, I am only working on simple schemes - more complex brushwork will still be sent off to Miscellaneous Miniatures or I-94, but of late, after having some success with 1/144 Great War planes last year, I have been working on a few 1/285 scale aircraft with some success and not a lot of swearing.

Before I forget, I do have an update from Kevin at MiscMinis on some commissioned work he is doing for me - here are the nearly finished Americans for an Aleutians scenario. 

Okay, now here are a few I have been working on.

The above are all Flight Deck prints. At the bottom are a Curtiss Hawk III and a P-26 (known as the Model 281 in Chinese service), painted in the base color for China in 1937. They need another coat of green, and I will need to add details such as tires, engine, and the tail stripes (the white is in place but needs another coat before adding the blue), and then Chinese roundels.

In the middle are the beginnings of my Wake Atoll collection. I decided that 1/600 is just too fiddly for my fingers to handle, so have transitioned into 1/285. The Wildcats and Buffaloes are complete, other than decals. Then I will need to start collecting a variety of Japanese aircraft. 

The top row are gap fillers. While I have a decent Korean War collection and can host numerous scenarios, I needed to buy more planes to run games involving the Yak-9P and the Shooting Star. The blue on the Yak is probably a hair too dark, but I like how it will stand out on the tabletop. The F-80, after priming, has a base coat of Vallejo aluminium which really looks great. Both of these types need details painted in, and then decals. 

Two Slovak-Hungarian War Scenarios

Avia B.534IV

As readers may know, I am working on a 1939 Slovak-Hungarian War project (see posts HERE and HERE for more information). To that end I have created another scenario and updated the one I had shared previously (First Fight, now known as Afternoon Delight). Here are the links to the pdfs of both scenarios.

Morning Glory

Afternoon Delight

Eventually I will be adding at least one more scenario, and most likely a bit of a guide to this war that will include background information, plane ratings, and the three scenarios.